18/03/2026

ESG WEDNESDAY | MAR 18, 2026

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RimbaWatch publishes fair share carbon budget for M’sia o First-of-its-kind analysis provides concrete benchmark to serve as baseline for govt and corporate guidance its fair-shares under the equality approach in 2023, this budget was overshot in 2024. Therefore, every tonne of CO2 emitted by Malaysia since these overshoot dates contributes to Malaysia’s “atmospheric production and consumption. Both these budgetary allocations should be reflected in the upcoming Climate Change Act.

PETALING JAYA: For the first time, a fair share carbon budget for Malaysia has been identified. In their report, “Estimating a Fair Share Carbon Budget for Malaysia”, RimbaWatch’s analysis based on legally-accepted methodologies provides a concrete benchmark which it hopes will serve as a baseline for government and corporate guidance, targets and legislation on climate mitigation. Malaysia’s annual and historical contribution to global emissions makes it a significant polluter, largely due to its current role as a major oil and gas producer and consumer, and ongoing activities such as deforestation. As the report outlines, Malaysia’s contribution of 0.62% of global GHG emissions for 2024 make it the 28th highest emitting country in the world, with annual emissions similar to other extractive economies such as Spain, France and the United Kingdom. Despite this, Malaysia’s climate policies and targets fail to effectively address mitigation, with no plans for a complete and immediate phase-out of polluting activities such as fossil fuels and deforestation. These short falls are underpinned by the lack of attempt by the Malaysian authorities to establish a fair-share carbon budget for the nation, aligned with a 1.5 degree pathway. Roadshow, Personnel Certification Programme, and Sustainability Report Advisory Services under the Madani Sustainability Roadmap. This national initiative is designed to support Malaysian industries in enhancing their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) capabilities and aligning with international sustainability standards. Aligned with the New Industrial Master Plan (NIMP) 2030 and the Government’s Madani agenda, the programme aims to advance sustainable industrial development and strengthen the competitiveness of Mid-Tier Companies (MTCs) and SMEs, particularly in manufacturing and related sectors, including those integrated into international supply chains. The launch was officiated by Sirim Academy covering CEO Dr. Mohd Bakri Jali representing SIRIM acting president & Group CEO Nik Sazali Nik Hussin, underscoring the organisation’s institutional commitment to facilitating ESG adoption. In a statement, Sirim said the programme provides participating organisations with technical guidance, capacity building, and certification to seamlessly integrate ESG into their core operations. As a strategic partner to industry, Sirim Bhd has designed this initiative to transform ESG from a compliance matter into a driver of sustainable, efficient, and profitable growth. Sirim said the goal is to empower Malaysian companies to become

Based on this budget, Malaysia should impose an immediate moratorium on all forest degradation and conversion in existing forestry and plantation concessions across Malaysia, and legislate the target to maintain permanent natural forest cover above a certain minimum percentage of land cover, which must be set at Malaysia’s current and existing natural forest cover. Further, Malaysia should commit to a phase-out of all fossil fuels, including legislated targets to achieve a phase-out of all fossil fuels consumption, including fossil gas, from the domestic energy grid at the soonest possible date, and end the provision of all upstream licenses. Further, Malaysia should join other developing economies, such as Colombia, Pakistan and Cambodia, in endorsing the call for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, which would establish a global mechanism to manage a global just transition away from coal, oil and gas.

appropriation”, where it emits more greenhouse gases (GHGs) than its equitable portion, leading to worsening climate change, disproportionate harm to other nations which have actually contributed the least to climate change, and requiring Malaysia to implement deeper, faster emission cuts to align itself with realistic climate targets. The findings of this report underscore the necessity for the Government of Malaysia to seriously improve the scientific and practical credibility of its mitigation efforts. The report recommends that an official national carbon budget be established in order to provide a scientific foundation for climate policies and targets. Further, sectoral budgets should be set, specifically for the domestic energy and forestry sector, taking into account both

this, the report identifies four options for estimating Malaysia’s fair-share carbon budget: 0 ‘Equality’, based on equal per capita division of the global carbon budget accounting from 2015. 0 ‘Responsibility,’ based on equal per capita division of the global carbon budget, accounting from 1990. 0 ‘Capability,’ based on Malaysia’s relative per-capita GDP, accounting from 2015. 0 ‘Responsibility and Capability’, based on Malaysia’s relative per capita GDP, accounting from 1990. The report finds that, as of Jan 1, 2023, Malaysia has overshot its remaining carbon budget under the capability, responsibility, and responsibility and capability approaches, by 600MtCO2, 1.4BtCO2 and 1.7BtCO2 respectively. While the country was still within

to would cumulatively not exceed a 1.5 degree threshold. For example, for a 50% chance of limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees, the remaining global carbon budget is 380 billion tCO2e as of 2023. To divide this global carbon budget to a national-level, the concept of a fair share arises. This concept accounts for a nation’s historical emissions responsibility and current capacity to transition, based on its historical and present share of the global carbon budget, global emissions and global GDP. To conduct this estimation, RimbaWatch adopted the an amount that

A carbon budget is the concept that, to stabilise global warming to the Paris Agreement’s threshold, global emissions need to be capped Sirim launches ESG Readiness Programme to strengthen sustainability PUTRAJAYA: Sirim Bhd recently launched the ESG Readiness methodology employed by Pelz et al (2023; 2025), which has been accepted by both Swiss and Dutch courts as a credible method. Based on

Mohd Bakri, representing Nik Sazali, launches the ESG Readiness Roadshow, Personnel Certification Programme, and Sustainability Report Advisory Services.

tools needed to embed sustainability into their daily operations and improve their long-term market positioning. Overall, this initiative reinforces Malaysia’s long-term economic and environmental goals, assisting organisations in embedding ESG principles in line with both NIMP 2030 and the Madani Sustainability Roadmap.

mid-tier including exporters and firms in high-emission sectors, to implement robust ESG practices effectively. Participants will benefit from specialised training and certification for ESG personnel, coupled with advisory support to achieve formal “ESG-Ready” status. These components are designed to equip businesses with the practical companies,

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards, which can enhance credibility with investors and strengthen supply chain partnerships. To further enable this transition, eligible organisations can apply for the ESG-NIMP Grant Programme, which provides 80% government funding with a 20% company co contribution. The grant is targeted at SMEs and

Banking & Finance common industry challenges, such as limited in-house ESG expertise and the high cost of external consultancy. Sirim’s structured approach offers practical, cost-effective support, including guidance on preparing sustainability reports aligned with ESG-ready and achieve a truly competitive position on the global stage. The programme addresses

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